Do Your Parents Need Guidance?
Tucson Dating & Marriage Advice Circa 1950

In your very cradle you will be told that there is nothing like a mother, and of course this is true. Your mother will be, in a sense, your first training ground. She will be your first contact with the female sex. Study her carefully. The lad who learns early how to get around his mother has made a fine start.

LET BOOKS GUIDE YOU

Luckily we live in an enlightened age, one in which child psychology has replaced the more vigorous methods of raising children. However, even today it is not always safe to assume that your mother has a book on child guidance. If she does not, by all means supply her with one. Many fine volumes have been put out in paper covers and can be bought for a few dollars. They are within the reach of any child's allowance, and are an excellent investment. Best not let your mother know who bought the book, if you did. Try this method:

"Mommy, why did Daddy bring this book home?"
"Oh, did he, Davie?"
(She will pick it up.)
"Well, well. Daddy brought it, did he?"
(Then of course you will have to speak to your father.)
"Daddy, why did Mommy bring this book home?"

This will cause a little harmless confusion and will guarantee a careful reading for the book. Though they come in many colors and sizes, you will find that these books are all built around one premise: the child is often misunderstood, but never really bad. Punishment merely causes resentment and injures the re­lationship between child and parent.

Encourage this point of view. You will find that no matter what you do, you have done it for a deep-seated reason, and it wasn't your fault. In fact, the book will show that it was your parents' fault.

There is no such thing, you will discover, as a bad boy.
"Charles, I don't know what to do with little David! He's been putting frogs in the deep freeze again." (Or whatever experiments you may have been car­rying on.)
"Well, shall I get out the old belt?"
"Charles! It says right here—mischief is often a symptom that the child feels unloved and unwanted!"
"Oh?"
"Why, you underlined it yourself!"
"I didn't."
"Well, someone did. I think we should do something nice for Davie."

Besides making life more bearable for you, these books will help you to keep your mother well adjusted. A mother who is uncertain, who feels at a loss for the right thing to do, is not a mother you will be proud to show to your friends. After a while, as your mother becomes more confident, you can branch out into all sorts of activities. The more complicated you seem to her, the better.

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